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Sunday, March 31, 2013

It's now official. Justin Sellers makes the Opening Day roster, Paco Rodriguez stays in the bullpen after just a year of prefessional ball, and there is no trade movement to speak of (meaning that both Harang and Capuano stay in Dodger Blue).

As noted earlier today, the Dodger were likely to make some DL moves, and that theory has been proven right. Per the Dodgers:

The great Maury Wills remembers his first season in the Dodgers
organization; it was 1951, the year Bobby Thomson homered off Ralph
Branca, the "Shot Heard 'Round the World." He remembers one of the the
first fundamentals the Dodgers taught him as a player that year. It was
this: He is not supposed to like the Giants.

“I just wanted to get out as many people as possible and try to ready
for the season,” Greinke said. “I felt pretty good. The fastball felt
good today, better than the last game. I felt the pitch mix was pretty
good.”

Greinke said he didn’t feel any major relief about how his elbow has responded because he wasn’t all that concerned initially.

“It wasn’t that bad in the first place,” he said. “Just precautions.

“It should be fine. But I can’t predict the future. I guess it could happen again.”

Are you ready for Opening Day? Well, then here are this Sunday's Dodgers' Videos.

Stadium Bound on youtube has been great about posting up videos of the construction work at Dodger Stadium.

Walking the Field Level concourse during the first game at Dodger
Stadium since the renovations. There's a great view of the field all the
way around, with tables and counters to stop at, and no ushers
continually saying "You can't stop here." There is also a LOT more room
to move and walk.

This is just a joy: "Dem Bums Warm Up" from 1945 featuring Dodgers' coach Leo Durocher. From the video description.

During World War II, soldiers viewed highlight clips like "Dem Bums Warm
Up," showing 1945 Brooklyn Dodgers team manager Leo Durocher leading
infield practice at baseball Spring Training, before feature films in
military motion picture theaters. When Durocher barked out "You haven't
got a bucket of paint at third base, you got to get the paintbrush out
of your hand," and a narrator coolly commented on Leo's chatter, the
sights and sounds of home were within reach for the troops.

After last nights game, the Dodgers made some moves to drop the official roster down closer to 25 players. Some more decisions need to be made; including a last-minute trade involving Harang or Capuano, and some likely Disabled List moves. First, lets take a brief look at last nights cuts. Via a couple of tweets from @Dodgers PR:

We find out that Stephen Fife, Elian Herrera, Alfredo Amezaga, Peyer Moylan, Matt Wallach, Josh Wall, Alex Castellanos and Kevin Gregg have all been either optioned or reassigned. Surprisingly, veteran reliever Kevin Gregg is included. He has been recently touted as in contention for the final relief spot (via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA). Also, Alex Castellanos was favored by many to capture an outfield reserve spot.

What we find out by these moves is that Justin Sellers has won a spot in the infield, and will probably be our Opening Day shortstop. Obviously, with Hanley Ramirez going to the DL the team has opted to focus on defense while we wait for the healing to end. Of special note, recent 2012 draftee Paco Rodriguez likely earns a bullpen position as our 3rd left-handed reliever in the pen (assuming Capuano stays a Dodger). He wowed the team in his 11 Major League appearances during his first year of professional play last year, and continued to impress the Dodgers staff with a great Spring.

At this point, assuming several upcoming Disabled List announcements, it looks like our 25 man roster for Opening Day will look like this: